WP Builds

This week's WordPress news for the week commencing Monday 31st January 2022

So this is one of those episodes where you might learn something completely new. Buddy Works (often just called Buddy) is a great tool for saving you some real time, and who does not want more time? Think Zapier, but for all-the-things related to web development. So there's a ton of different things that you do over and over again. No matter what business you're in, there's always going to be repetition. Most of us specialise in something so that we can offer that skill to the market. We have done the same thing many times so that we can become an expert at something. What you quickly realise when you've done something a few times is that you now know how to do. You might describe your skill level like this... "I could do that in my sleep". But you can't do that in your sleep, can you... because, erm... you're asleep! But someone, or something, else could. So, introducing Maciek Palmowski and Luke Pasisz. They're here to explain what Buddy Works can do and how you get started. Buddy Works is a tool which allows you to create complex pipelines. You've got a job that you feel is not really the best use of your time? Buddy Works will take that job from you and do it repeatedly. It will not get bored and complain, and you will be happier! I will not lie to you. It's not like Jarvis in the Avengers. You don't get to just 'think', "mmm... I'm fed up with this task. Will you please take it off my hands and do it?". You're going to have to learn how Buddy Works works (I like that sentence)! And that's the purpose of the podcast today. So give the episode a listen and see if Buddy Works will help you automate tasks and save time.

This week's WordPress news for the week commencing 24th January 2021

Welcome to another in our Business Bootcamp series. It’s the series where we relearn everything we know about building WordPress sites, and running a web design business from start to finish. Today we're thinking about the legal side of things... agreements / contracts and payments. How would you handle this as someone new to the industry. Do you even need a contract? Perhaps you're starting out and making a website for a friend, in which case the situation might be different, but do you owe it to yourself to protect you and your business from things which might go wrong... late payment / no payment, absent client who never returns your calls, a client who is simply unreasonable in their expectations of your time. It's really only after you've been doing this for a while that you might start to realise that some form of legal protection is a good idea, but where do you go to get that? You could try a lawyer, but that might be expensive. You could make something up, but that might not really protect you. You could download something from the internet, but that might not cover all the things that you need covering. So many things! Fins out what we've done in the past, the mistakes that we've made and where you might find some useful resources. Go check out the podcast...

This week's WordPress news for the week commencing Monday 10th January 2022

The back story goes like this. I (Nathan) co-host the Page Builder Summit with my friend Anchen le Roux. We invite a range of speakers to come onto that podcast and create presentations which, it is hoped, the attendees will enjoy. We do not pay the speakers for their contributions. We make this very clear and communicate it in advance. There's an exchange here, but it's not the usual one of 'you create something and I will pay you for it'. It's more of a 'here is an audience you might like to present to if you're willing'. Joe thinks that this model needs a re-think; payment ought to happen. So we talk about how event organisers should think about giving value back to their presenters. We are certainly on different sides of the debate here, but the conversation is polite and we each hear one another out. It was not really an endeavour to change one another's minds... more, an attempt to air our thoughts and make clear why we think the way we do. If you're thinking of being a speaker at an event, or you're thinking of organising an event this could be a really interesting conversation. It might well shine a spotlight on issues that you never even considered and make both sides have more empathy, especially when the event deadlines are tight and expectations are put under stress.

This week's WordPress news for the week commencing Monday 10th January 2022

Welcome to another in the WordPress Business Bootcamp series. It’s the series where we relearn everything we know about building WordPress sites and running a web design business from start to finish. Presently, we are on Season 01 (of the series which is looking at the things that need to happen) 'Before the Build'. This is episode 03... "Getting a brief and scoping the project". So this is really all about making the first contact, making an impression and letting the client know how you work and what they can expect. There's so many possible routes that you can take here. Are you going to meet face-to-face or work on Zoom? What are the ways that you're going to communicate the expected budget? How will you explain your processes to see if you're a good fit for one another? How do you qualify them as a 'good' client? Do you introduce care plans at this point? There's so much more to this, but you're going to have to listen to the show to find out more...

This week's WordPress news for the week commencing 3rd January 2022

Compress your images for a quick way to get a faster website with the EWWW plugin. See how it works on the podcast today with founder Shane Bishop. Go listen...